As a member of the Business Development team at Shopify (a complete ecommerce solution), I’ve been able to witness a number of our merchants grow their online businesses alongside great partners. Here are three simple ways you can assist in your client’s business growth if you choose to start offering ecommerce services.
Tax Deductions for Ecommerce
Your clients may not be familiar with the tax deductions that are commonly available to online sellers. Familiarize yourself and your client with these deductions. This could be a great first conversation to start things off on the right foot.
Some new business expenses will fall under ‘start-up’ costs. In the US, these can all be deducted on Schedule C, Form 1040, unless otherwise noted.
Web Hosting and Online Store Themes
The costs associated with domain registration and website hosting are deductible expenses. You can also deduct the cost of any online store template or custom theme for your client’s online store. These types of purchases would fall under either a software or marketing expense.
Shipping Costs
Your client’s shipping costs will vary based on the products they sell, and what countries they are being shipped to. The overall cost of shipping goods, such as postage and packaging fees, can also be claimed as other expenses.
Online Service Fees
Online services (including Shopify, TradeGecko, MailChimp, and any other integrated apps used to help your client run their ecommerce business) are deductible as business expenses.
Manage Inventory to Make Your Job Easy
Inventory isn’t traditionally viewed as the most exciting topic, but working with a client on their inventory management will improve their cash flow, and also make your life a whole lot easier. Teaming up with a solid inventory management system is a great first step for your client. Check to see if the ecommerce platform they’re using already has inventory management built in, they may not be taking advantage of it. With this in place, you will both know exactly how much product is in stock based on sales, when it came in, and when it went out.
Depending on your client’s business size and volume, dropshipping may be worth considering. From an inventory management perspective, dropshipping is really the ideal scenario. Instead of your clients having to physically ship products themselves, the manufacturer or wholesaler takes care of it for you. This pretty much removes the inventory process completely, and allows you to seamlessly pull the necessary information to help you do your job! Even better, not having to hold inventory will free up cash your clients can spend on growth instead.
3. Level Up on Social Media
For small to medium-sized businesses, social media is a great opportunity to drive traffic to their website, and even sell on it, without breaking the bank. Here are a few social media channels you can provide to your clients to help grow their network of followers and build brand awareness.
It’s safe to say that Facebook is the ecommerce king when it comes to traffic and sales. Shopify recently announced its new Buy Button for Facebook, allowing your clients to display their products right from their Facebook Page, and redirect customers to their online store.
While Facebook is a tough one to compete with, Pinterest is another great channel to explore for your clients. We see many ecommerce stores using this channel, especially for merchants selling niche products like antiques and collectibles or books and magazines. Shopify has partnered with Pinterest to make it easy for businesses to sell their products using Buyable Pins.